Input device for touch screen

ABSTRACT

A movement input device for use on a touch screen and a portable electronic device including such a device are described. The movement input device includes a fastening unit securing the movement input device on the portable electronic device, and a user input unit extending through the fastening unit. The user input unit includes a user actuation part protruding from a top side of the fastening unit and actuatable by a user for free angular movement around an axis (X) and a touch screen contact part protruding from a bottom side of the fastening unit, which is arranged to contact the touch screen in a position where at least an angle of the contact position corresponds to an angle of the user actuation part. Movement of the user input unit is thus detected on the touch screen.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application is a 35 U.S.C. §371 national phase applicationof PCT International Application No. PCT/EP2003/009743, having aninternational filing date of Sep. 3, 2003, and claiming priority toEuropean Patent Application No. 02020134.9, filed Sep. 9, 2002, andUnited States Provisional Application No. 60/410,051, filed Sep. 12,2002, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference intheir entireties. The above PCT International Application was publishedin the English language and has International Publication No. WO2004/025546 A1.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of portable electronicdevices having touch screens on which information can be input. Moreparticularly the present invention relates to a movement input deviceand a portable electronic device having a touch screen and includingsuch a movement input device, where movement inputs are detected on thetouch screen.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

It is known within the field of portable electronic devices to providethese with touch screens. For instance Ericsson has a mobile phone modelR380, which has a touch screen and a flip provided with keys that gothrough the flip and touch the touch screen for entering numbers andselecting functions. The mobile phones of today are getting more andmore advanced and also often have different applications like gamesprovided in them. In the future it might also be possible to downloadapplications into them. When a user of a phone is playing such games, hewill often feel a need for a user input device that can provide movementinformation, for example for positioning, in an way that is free atleast regarding angle around an axis of the device.

There exist several such devices today, for instance joysticks or gamepads for providing such movement input to computers and game machines.

Today there does however not exist such a movement input device forportable electronic devices having touch screens, which are cheap andcan be used easily. Such a device can be provided directly on a touchscreen, but then it is limited to arrow buttons. Arrow buttons on atouch screen do not give the user a good enough control of a game to beplayed. Today the space on portable electronic devices is furthermorelimited, why extra devices and input devices on them have to beconsidered carefully before being added to the ones already existing.

There exist a joystick that can be fitted on a phone for playing games.This device exists for a number of Nokia mobile phone models and usesthe buttons provided on the phone for providing four-way movement withfour of the original phone buttons. This is however a “digital” type ofmovement and will not give a user the best way of performing movement ina game. This is no real improvement to providing arrow buttons directlyon the touch screen, but rather replaces it. A user is thus here limitedto movement in four directions decided by the underlying keys.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,355 describes a joystick that is provided on a touchscreen of a remote control. However here the movement of the joystick issensed by different type of sensors like Hall effect sensors or straingauge sensors. This is thus equivalent to providing a separate usermotion input device.

There is thus still a need for a simple and cheap movement input deviceto be used in conjunction with a touch screen and which can receive userinputs that at least correspond to the user movement of the device in anangle around an axis provided generally perpendicular to the touchscreen.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is thus directed towards the problem of providingfine detection of user movements with a movement input device inrelation to a touch screen.

Another problem that the invention is directed towards is the problem ofproviding full detection of at least the angle of rotation around anaxis by a movement input device provided for a touch screen.

One object of the present invention is thus to provide a movement inputdevice, which provides fine detection of user movements with a movementinput device in relation to a touch screen.

According to a first aspect of the invention this object is achieved andthis problem is solved by a movement input device for use on a touchscreen of a portable electronic device comprising: a fastening unit forsecuring the movement input device on the portable electronic device andhaving a top and bottom side, said unit also being arranged for beingplaced over at least parts of the touch screen, and a user input unitfastened in and stretching through the fastening unit. The user inputunit comprises: a user actuation part protruding from the top side ofthe fastening unit and being possible to actuate by a user for freeangular movement with an angle of rotation around an axis provided atleast generally perpendicular to the top and bottom sides of thefastening unit, and a touch screen contact part protruding from thebottom side of the fastening unit, which, when the device is placed foruse on the touch screen and upon actuation by the user of the useractuation part, is arranged to contact the touch screen in a positionwhere at least an angle of the contact position corresponds to the angleof the user actuation part, so that movement of the user input unit isdetected on the touch screen. A second aspect of the invention includesthe features of the first aspect, wherein the user actuation part andthe touch screen contact part furthermore are joined together by afastening part being fastened in the fastening unit while still allowingfree movement round said axis.

Another problem that the present invention solves is the provision of“analog” detection of radial movement of the movement input device.

A third aspect of the present invention solves this problem. The thirdaspect of the invention includes the features of the first aspect,wherein the touch screen contact part furthermore comprises a pin fordirect contact on the screen so that a radial movement of the touchscreen contact part from the axis corresponds to the radial movement ofthe user actuation part.

A fourth aspect of the invention includes the features of the thirdaspect, wherein the touch screen contact part also comprises a springarranged to force the pin in contact with the touch screen.

A fifth aspect of the invention includes the features of the firstaspect, wherein the touch screen contact part further comprises a dischaving a rim, which contacts the screen at a fixed distance from theaxis of the screen upon actuation of the user actuation part.

A sixth aspect of the present invention includes the features of thefifth aspect, wherein the disc has parabolic shape.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a portableelectronic device, which provides fine detection of user movements usinga movement input device together with a touch screen.

According to a seventh aspect this object is achieved by a portableelectronic device comprising: a body comprising: a touch screen fordetecting inputs from a user on said screen, and a movement input devicefor use on said touch screen comprising: a fastening unit for securingthe movement input device on the body and having a top and bottom side,said unit also being arranged for being placed over at least parts ofthe touch screen, and a user input unit fastened in and stretchingthrough the fastening unit. The user input unit comprises: a useractuation part protruding from the top side of the fastening unit andbeing possible to actuate by a user for free angular movement with anangle of rotation around an axis provided at least generallyperpendicular to the top and bottom sides of the fastening unit, and atouch screen contact part protruding from the bottom side of thefastening unit, which, when the movement input device is placed for useon the touch screen and upon actuation by the user of the user actuationpart, is arranged contact the touch screen in a position where at leastan angle of the contact position corresponds to the angle of the useractuation part, so that movement of the user input unit is detected onthe touch screen.

An eight aspect of the invention includes the features of the seventhaspect and further includes an input determination unit (40) fordetermining positions of input from a user.

A ninth aspect of the invention includes the features of the seventhaspect, wherein the fastening unit is further rotatably connected to thebody.

A tenth aspect of the invention includes the features of the ninthaspect, wherein the body further comprises a fastening unit sensingdevice arranged to sense if the fastening unit is in position forproviding inputs from the movement input device on the touch screen.

An eleventh aspect of the invention includes the features of the seventhaspect, wherein the device is a mobile phone.

The invention has the following advantages. It does not take up anyextra space on the phone. It also uses the touch screen display, whichis already provided on the phone. Since the movement input device onlyincludes mechanical components, it is. cheap and easy to manufacture. Italso allows good position sensing, which is an advantage in someapplications, like for instance games.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention both angular andradial movement of a movement input device are detectable in an “analog”fashion.

According to a second embodiment of the invention only the angularmovement of a movement input device is detectable in “analog” fashion.The radial movement is here detected in “digital” fashion.

It should be emphasized that the term “comprises/comprising” when usedin this specification is taken to specify the presence of statedfeatures, integers, steps or components, but does not preclude thepresence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps,components or groups thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention will now be described in more detail in relationto the enclosed drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a portable electronic device in the form of a mobile phonehaving a touch screen,

FIG. 2 shows the portable electronic device on which a movement inputdevice according to the invention is provided,

FIG. 3 shows the movement input device according to the invention byitself,

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of a movement input device according to afirst embodiment of the invention as well as relevant parts of theportable electronic device,

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a movement input device according to asecond embodiment of the invention as well as relevant parts of theportable electronic device,

FIG. 6 shows a block schematic of the interior parts of the phone usedwhen using an application,

FIG. 7 shows a first variation of a user actuation part according to theinvention, and

FIG. 8 shows a second variation of a user actuation part according tothe invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

A portable electronic device 10 according to the invention is shown inFIG. 1. In the preferred embodiment the device is a mobile phone 10having an antenna 12 and a display 14. It should be realised that theportable electronic device need not be a phone, but can be any othertype of portable electronic device, like a PDA (personal digitalassistant), a palm top computer, a lap top computer or some type ofgaming machine for playing games. The screen 14 is here a touch screenonto which it is possible to enter information directly onto the screensuch as selection of functions or applications and controlling thesefunctions and applications.

In the phones of today there are emerging more and more applications forinstance in the form of games that can be played. These games can beprovided in the phone beforehand, be downloaded into the phone from anetwork or added to the phone in some other suitable way. Theseapplications can often need a joystick or some other type of inputdevice that provides movement input. It is hard to provide such devicesdirectly on the screen and a user furthermore often prefers to hold thejoystick in his hand when for instance playing games. In order to solvethis, the phone shown in FIG. 1 is provided with a movement input deviceaccording to the invention. The combined phone and movement input deviceare shown in FIG. 2. The movement input device includes a fastening unitin the form of a lid 16 provided with a user input unit in the form of ajoystick 18. The movement input device may also include gaming buttons19. The joystick 18 and buttons are used in conjunction with the touchscreen 14 of the underlying phone 10. The lid covers at least parts ofthe touch screen.

The fastening unit can be provided in many ways. It can be a flip, whichis securely fastened onto the body of the phone and rotatable around thebottom end of the phone. It can be a sliding body, which slides up anddown along the length of the phone. It can also be a lid, which issnapped on, either with hinges for rotation around the body or without.It can also be provided in the form a. sleeve to the phone. It canfurthermore be provided in the form of a thin plate, which engages thesides of the phone in order to stay placed over the touch screen andonly has enough space for retaining a user input unit. There are thus anumber of ways in which the device can be fastened to and be made tocooperate with the phone. In order to demonstrate that the movementInput device can be separate from the phone it is shown by itself inFIG. 3. The movement input device can furthermore include more or fewerbuttons than what is shown. It can for example also include keys thatare to be used for telephony and also be provided without the gamingbuttons 19. In its simplest form it is thus provided with only ajoystick or some other type of user input unit.

The movement input device can be a part sold together with the phone ora part provided as an extra accessory and sold separately, for instancefrom a game provider.

FIG. 4 shows a sectional view of a first preferred embodiment of themovement input device according to the invention together with differentparts of the cellular phone 10, where the section has been taken alongline IV-IV of FIG. 2. The gaming buttons have here been omitted forbetter understanding of the invention. These do however contact thetouch screen in a known way, when being depressed. The user input unit18 is in constant contact with the touch screen 14 via the lid 16. Thetouch screen 14 is provided in a body 24 of the phone, which alsocomprises a PCB (printed circuit board) 20 including a number ofcircuits as well as a battery 22. The user input unit 18 includes a useractuation part 26 in the form of a stick functioning as a joystick,joined to a touch screen contact part 28 via a ball shaped fasteningpart 30. The -lid has a top side from which the user actuation part 26protrudes and a bottom side from which the touch screen contact part 28protrudes. The fastening part 30 is placed in a compartment inside thelid 16 formed after the shape of the fastening part. It should berealised that this is just one way of providing fastening of the userinput unit in the lid. There are many other ways in which this can bedone. What is important though is that the user input unit is securelyfastened in the lid while allowing free movement in relation to an axisat least generally perpendicular to the lid and to the touch screen 16when the lid is placed thereover. The axis is denoted with X and isshown going straight through the middle of the user input unit, when auser does not actuate this unit. The axis is thus also generallyperpendicular to the top and bottom sides of the lid.

The touch screen contact part 28 is shown in an enlargement close to thedevice. From this enlargement it can be seen that the touch screencontact part 28 includes a pin 34 fastened to the rest of the user inputunit via a spring 32. The spring is dimensioned so that enough pressureis provided for receiving movement information while at the same timeavoiding damage to the touch screen. The device can function without thespring, but then unwanted damages on the touch screen might occur. Thepin 34 also has a blunted top in order not to unnecessarily scratch thesurface of the touch screen 14. With this user input unit, the useractuation part 26 can be moved freely all the way round the axis X.Different sizes of radial movement are also possible to obtain. Becauseof the pin 34 the touch screen then can detect the whole angularmovement round the axis X made by a user and also the complete radialmovement that is possible to be made by a user. The screen thus detectsa corresponding angle and radial movement. There is a slight differencebetween actuated and detected angle in that the detected angle isopposite to the angle moved by the user. This is easily handled bythe-application in question or by a separate movement translatorprovided in the phone. All angular movements and also all allowed radialmovements are thus detected. The device is thus “analog” in nature.

It is possible to provide a direct angular correspondence between theuser actuation part and touch screen contact part in a variation of theabove-described embodiment. This is done by using a pair of meshinggears provided between the user actuation part and the touch screencontact part. This is however a somewhat ineffective and expensivemethod.

FIG. 5 shows a sectional view of a second embodiment of the movementinput device according to the invention. Here the parts of the phone arethe same as shown in FIG. 4 and the user actuation part is also the sameas before, why these will not be described further. The difference hereis that the touch screen contact part has another shape. The touchscreen contact part 36 is here provided in the form of a parabolicallyshaped disc facing the touch screen. In the unused state this disc isnot in contact with the touch screen 14. When the user actuation part 26is moved, a point of the rim of the disc will get in contact with thetouch screen 14, which point is then detected to be used by theapplication. With this touch screen contact part 36 free movement aroundthe axis is also allowed. All angular movements are thus detected. Theangular movement is thus analog in nature. The radial movement ishowever always of the same magnitude. The radial movement Is thus“digital” in nature. This device does not need a spring and here theredoes not have to be a translation of the angle either.

The disc can be varied in many ways. It does not have to be parabolic,although this is preferred. It can also be provided by a disc having anumber of sides for instance 32 or 64 sides, each curved though. Theposition will then not be as exactly indicated as with a parabolic disc.It is also possible to have a plane round disc instead

FIG. 6 shows a block schematic of some of the parts of the phone inFIG. 1. The touch screen 14 is connected to an input determination unit40, which in turn is connected to an application unit 38 on which anapplication is run and preferably a game. The input determination unit40 determines type of input by a user on the touch screen. This inputdetermination unit determines if the input is a movement input oranother type of input. If it is a movement input it calculates rotatedangle, possible radial movement and possible angle translations. Herethe area of the touch screen where the user input unit can be In contacthas been defined as an application user area. When using the movementinput device together with an application like a game, parts of thedisplay, normally the part not covered by the lid, is used fordisplaying the game and the other part covered by the lid is provided asan input portion. The gaming buttons 19 can her also be used foradditional functions than movement, and would then also act on the touchscreen in a known way.

FIG. 7 shows a variation of the user actuation part. In the previouslydescribed embodiments it was a stick. It can however also be a crossshaped thumb plate 42 as in FIG. 7 or a thumb plate 44 of circular shapeas in FIG. 8. The plate can also have four. corners or eight corners.There are thus a number of possible shapes.

When using the movement input device according to the invention theremight be other variations provided in the phone. The phone might acceptseveral different lids, where one is used for games and another forphoning etc. In this case the phone might be provided with a sensor Inthe body sensing that there is a lid present and in case of a lidautomatically associating the part of the touch screen to be used formovement input. This can be complemented by another sensor sensing whattype of lid it is and automatically changing type of input detectionbased-on this extra sensor, i.e. if there Is to be a detection of normalpush buttons or a user input unit according to the invention.Alternatively a user can set the display area for sensing inputmovements either by selection in a menu or by selection when enteringthe application.

The input determination unit described-earlier can as an alternative beprovided as a part of the application unit or be part of some othergeneral unit. The input determination unit and the application unit arefurthermore normally provided in the form of one or more processors withassociated program memory or memories storing program code forperforming the functions of the units.

It is also possible to implement more than one user input unit in amovement input device, but then the portable electronic device wouldneed more touch screens, one for each input unit. Another variation isto use a touch screen technology, where it is possible to detectmultiple points of contact at the same time.

With the present invention there has been provided a movement inputdevice that allows detection of all angles possible to move around anaxis generally perpendicular to the lid. in a pure “analog” fashion by atouch screen display and in the preferred embodiment also the magnitudeof the radial movement from the axis. The device is furthermore cheap tomanufacture, does not include any electrical components or other typesof expensive devices. Another advantage is that it makes use of a touchscreen, which is already provided, in the portable electronic device.

The change to software in the phone for detecting movement inputs isalso not hard to make, which makes the present invention even moreattractive.

1. A movement input device for use on a touch screen of a portableelectronic device comprising: a fastening unit configured to secure themovement input device on the portable electronic device and having a topand bottom side, said fastening unit also being placed over and spacedabove at least part of the touch screen, to form a gap between thefastening unit and at least part of the touch screen; and a user inputunit fastened to and extending through the fastening unit, wherein theuser input unit comprises: a user actuation part protruding from the topside of the fastening unit and being operable for actuation by a userfor free angular movement with an angle of rotation around an axis (X)provided at least generally perpendicular to the top and bottom sides ofthe fastening unit; and a touch screen contact part protruding from thebottom side of the fastening unit that is configured to contact thetouch screen in a position where at least an angle of the contactposition in relation to the axis corresponds to the angle of the useractuation part in relation to the axis, so that movement of the userinput unit is detected on the touch screen.
 2. The movement input deviceaccording to claim 1, wherein the user actuation part and the touchscreen contact part are joined together by a fastening part beingfastened in the fastening unit while still allowing free movement roundsaid axis.
 3. The movement input device according to claim 1, whereinthe touch screen contact part comprises a pin configured to directlycontact the screen so that a radial movement of the touch screen contactpart from the axis X corresponds to a radial movement of the useractuation part.
 4. The movement input device according to claim 3,wherein the touch screen contact part further comprises a springconfigured to force the pin in contact with the touch screen.
 5. Themovement input device according to claim 1, wherein the touch screencontact part comprises a disc having a rim, which contacts the screen ata fixed distance from the axis of the screen upon actuation of the useractuation part.
 6. The movement input device according to claim 5,wherein the disc has parabolic shape.
 7. A portable electronic devicecomprising: a body comprising a touch screen configured to detect inputsfrom a user on said screen; and a movement input device comprising: afastening unit configured to secure the movement input device on thebody and having a top and bottom side, said fastening unit also beingplaced over and spaced above at least part of the screen, to form a gapbetween the fastening unit and at least part of the touch screen; and auser input unit fastened to and extending through the fastening unit,wherein the user input unit comprises: a user actuation part protrudingfrom the top side of the fastening unit and being operable for actuationby a user for free angular movement with an angle of rotation around anaxis (X) provided at least generally perpendicular to the top and bottomsides of the fastening unit, and a touch screen contact part protrudingfrom the bottom side of the fastening unit that is configured to contactthe touch screen in a position where at least an angle of the contactposition in relation to the axis corresponds to the angle of the useractuation part in relation to the axis, so that movement of the userinput unit is detected on the touch screen.
 8. The portable electronicdevice according to claim 7, further comprising an input determinationunit for determining positions of input from a user.
 9. The portableelectronic device according to claim 7, wherein the fastening unit isrotatably connected to the body.
 10. The portable electronic deviceaccording to claim 9, wherein the body further comprises a fasteningunit sensing device configured to sense if the fastening unit is inposition for providing inputs from the movement input device on thetouch screen.
 11. The portable electronic device according to claim 7,wherein the device is a mobile phone.